Help Pinterest Fight Spam

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Has your Pinterest follower count dropped in the last 24 hours?
The social photo site of all things beautiful announced that it
has begun eliminating spammers' accounts, which could result in a
noticeable loss of followers. But that's a good thing.

As one of the fastest-growing social networks on the Internet,
Pinterest became the target of spammers
. While spam comes in a variety of forms, it is most frequently
seen on Pinterest as an eye-catching photo that links to an
unrelated product on a website. Pinterest users expect to see
related information when they click on a "pin," or photo, but
sometimes they don't. Pinterest has cracked down on spammers to
keep its promise to users and help people discover things they
love.

No one loves spam. The Pinterest anti-spam team reported in a
blog post that 99 percent of users would see less than 10
followers disappear from their tallies. When Pinterest users
realize they were targets of spammers, they might want to do more
to rid their beloved site from spammers.

Here's what to look for:

Spammers are pretty obvious when you look at search
results. If you type in a search term like "pink" or "flowers,"
you'll receive hundreds of images of the same picture — that's a
sign of spam or an extraordinarily popular image. Check several
of the accounts that posted the image. Misspelled or strange
names, along with few pins, could mean spam. Flag the account or
the image as spam, and let the Pinterest spam team investigate.

But not all spammers are quite so obvious. Some post an image
that clicks through to an unrelated product for sale. This is
spam, and you should report it. And others show what has been
categorized as a DIY or craft project that links not to
instructions, but to a site to buy the product. It's OK
to sell
stuff on Pinterest , but not to mislead pinners. Another red
flag is no picture for the pinner, instead you'll see Pinterest's
default image of a red pushpin.

How to report spam on Pinterest

To report spam pins: Click on the pin to expand the photo. Look
to the right of the image to find the button "Report a pin." A
dialogue box will open asking for the reason. Along with spam,
users can report pins for offenses such as hate
speech , pornography and promoting self-harm.

To report spam accounts: Go to the account profile page. Under
the account holder's name, you'll see a little flag. Click it to
report the account and list the reason (same listing as pin
report). You may also block the account.